


Vengeful Silence

by PlaguedParadox



Series: The Silent Courier [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Minor Character Death, Muteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 21:23:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14317422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlaguedParadox/pseuds/PlaguedParadox
Summary: Pandora comes back after a small job to find Arcade kidnapped and now has to go find him.





	Vengeful Silence

The dark night sky was the perfect shroud for any of those wanting to sneak by their enemies and a certain courier found that mixing the darkness, her silent steps and a stealth boy to be more than helpful when traversing the area around Quarry Junction where packs of deathclaws threatened to tear her and her companions apart. Luckily it was just Arcade and herself that she had to worry about as she made her way around the large rocks and quarry machines. She didn’t know why she agreed to help the Thorn collect the eggs of the most dangerous creatures in the Mojave but helping was helping and it meant that someone else didn’t have to do it for a while. Arcade was waiting in Sloan, refusing to come along as his plasma defender had no ammo and he didn’t believe using a ripper against a pack of deathclaws was anything less than a deathwish.

Pandora was actually okay being away from Arcade to do something like this, it meant he didn’t get hurt which meant she could focus on the task at hand. The courier climbed up one of the large quarry machines so she could be out of hearing range when she checked her pip-boy to make sure exactly how many eggs she had to collect but she planned to collect a few extra for some deathclaw omelettes for the woman in Sloan, once she found out the information she quickly shut off the pip-boy and unholstered a sniper rifle Boone had loaned her once he heard that she was going near the quarry. Once she located the bundle of eggs through the scope of the rifle, she went on to check to see if she could find a clear path before sneaking her way back down from the machine. It was a surprisingly quick in and out with no injuries. ‘No wounds this time! Cade’s gonna be so proud of me!’ The courier cheered to herself as she carried the eggs back into Sloan only to freeze once something crunched under her boots. ‘What the fuck?’ She cursed as she moved her foot to the side to glance at the item she stood on only to feel her blood run cold at the sight. Arcade’s broken glasses speckled with blood.

The paladin was quick to action, scooping up the glasses and placing the deathclaw eggs in a safe place, so the local mole rat didn’t try to eat them, before following the small blood trail which was hard to see initially but now she was locked onto the sight of red drops staining the desert sand and rock. Following the tracks were easy considering the Mojave never rained so there was no worry about losing the trail. Pandora kept pace, only stopping to drink some water and eat a few snacks at the regular intervals that Arcade had gotten her used to. The courier only really stopped once she reached the abandoned Ranger Station Charlie, the NCR still had yet to send more rangers to make the place operational again despite her efforts to clear out the explosives placed by the Legion ahead of time. She huffed to herself as she made her way into the station, not expecting much considering how thorough her and Boone typically were when it came to helping the NCR, she just needed to collect some supplies she had stored under one of the beds.

The station was as silent as it had always been, even before the Legion attack, but something felt off and the courier was unsure of what it was until she noticed a scrap of fabric stuck on the corner of one the metal boxes dotted around. Pandora didn’t need to pick it up to work out where it had come from. Her face dropped into a snarl, prepared for a fight with her best friend’s kidnappers and stormed into the building of the station, rifle ready to put some lead into people only to have her confident and battle ready facade drop into a shaking mess when her gaze fell upon the man sobbing, bloodied and bruised and holding his lab coat close as if it was his only protection. The courier ran over and dropped beside the injured man, scooping him into a gentle embrace, rubbing his back softly to try and comfort him, not bothering to try and ask what happened as she knew that he’d bring it up when he was ready but with how he was acting it really didn’t leave much to the imagination.

A burning sensation flooded Pandora’s body as she began to see red in more than one way when a name slipped through Arcade’s sobbing lips, causing a flash of red hair and a cold smirk to come to mind. She knew who was cruel enough to do this even without Arcade’s confirmation but she appreciated that he trusted her enough to mention something at least right away then again considering how they met, it was more than expected that he trusted her with that kind of information. Soon more details started to slip out of his lips and the fiery fury burning in the courier grew with each new word. The dark look on her face quickly shut Arcade up as it reminded him of the man who attacked and assaulted him, the fact that such a sweet woman who went out of her way to save him could so much as resemble the man who sold him and tortured him terrified him more than the actual horrid man himself.

The trip back to Sloan was a slow one, Arcade was too sore to move from the attack so had to be carried and unfortunately for his ego, the only thing to carry him was his dear courier. Now Arcade wouldn’t of minded being carried but Pandora was a very short woman which made the appearance of her carrying the man something for the people they wandered passed to get a chuckle out of. The doctor groaned in embarrassment and pain when the pair finally reached the small town, he urged the courier to be quick in collecting their items as he fiddled with his old pair of glasses that were practically useless now. Arcade felt absolutely useless, he could still fight despite the pain but he could barely see without his glasses so even if he could help in a fight he’d be a risk to Pandora.

Once the pair got to Freeside, with the help of some helpful travelling merchants and their obedient brahmin, Arcade noted how deflated his friend seemed. “Hey… I’m fine now, that last cocktail of Med-X, Stimpak and Fixer worked wonders.” He joked slightly as he tried to lighten the mood but his small hopeful smile fell upon seeing her frown at his weak attempt at a joke. “Sorry.” He winced, following closely behind the woman as she walked slowly through the slum streets. The atmosphere was tense and almost everyone could sense it as they kept their distance from the usually smiling woman. “He’s going to come after me again.” The doctor stated, he knew full well that his life was in danger and was going to bring danger to his friends’ lives. The courier stopped mid-walk and turned to look at him with the usual determination in her eyes. _So?_ It was a simple question but it brought a smile on the doctor’s face. “Stubborn.” He huffed out jokingly before his face became serious once again. “Perhaps it would be best to just leave me behind. I’m useless until I get some new glasses anyway.” He crossed his arms, ignoring the pain that rippled through his body as he moved. _Not going to happen. We’re friends and we protect each other. Glasses or no, I won’t leave you behind. I adore you, Cade, that’s not going to change._ Pandora signed as she tried to keep the rising redness on her face down, she always felt awkward talking about her feelings but she knew Arcade needed to hear this.

Things slowed down even more for the duo as they rested in the Lucky 38 despite Yes Man, a securitron that snuck in randomly one night, trying to urge the courier to work for an independent New Vegas. The courier held up a stop sign she had collected on one of her journeys in the wasteland, a response to Yes Man once again cheerfully asking the courier if she was ready to work, she wasn’t going anywhere until Arcade was okay and while it was still sore for him to do pretty much anything let alone walk then she wasn’t moving herself. Plus, she doubted that she’d be able to help an independent Vegas, she’d need the resources and help of the NCR and despite them being so stretched thin she knew that the Dam was an important location that they couldn’t give up so they’d have to defend the Mojave. Or that’s what she was banking on at the very least. The courier placed the stop sign on the securitron before collecting some fruit and waltzing over to her favourite companion who was busy being bothered by ED-E and Rex, a silent chuckle bouncing her slightly as she watched the doctor try and push the eyebot away. ‘You won’t be in danger for long, I promise.’ She thought to herself as she sat down next to the man that was practically her home.

The dry desert winds speckled sand across the courier’s sunglasses, scratching and placing small dents in the darkened glass but the glass was easily replaced so she paid no mind as she laid down on the heated ground, ignoring the small burning sensation across her stomach as she looked down the scope of her well-used gauss rifle. Her heart almost caught in her throat once she caught sight of the red hair that only belonged to one person. Her damn cousin. A snarl curled it’s way onto her lips as she watched the overconfident child of a man saunter his way around Novac, flirting with several people as he did. Novac’s two snipers were by her side, the red-headed man in their sights, as well as they, watched him walk towards the large dinosaur that was their typical watchtower. A growl sounded out from Boone’s throat, he was well aware of what the man did and that he was sided with the Legion and typically with the courier around, Legionaries were shot on sight. The courier patted the sniper’s arm slightly, letting him know to calm down which the sniper respected, anger was just going to get in the way of a clear shot and a clear shot was what they needed. Normally, Pandora would have taken Cameron out the same way she did with Caesar but she didn’t want to risk the man getting his hands on her, especially after what he did to Arcade so the thought of him touching her made her sick to her stomach.

“We need of him to be clear of Novac so when we shoot, it looks more like a typical wasteland accident.” Veronica translated quietly to the snipers from her spot between the courier and Boone, her face was contorted in an attempt to keep crude jokes from spilling out and breaking the group’s concentration. “Then we can let the wildlife be his grave.” She added, her rage wasn’t as easy to tame as Boone’s was, she had met the courier and the doctor at the same time and they were family to her. Once Cam had left the town the group were tailing him, keeping their distance. They tailed him all the way back to the abandoned Cottonwood Cove, no one had bothered to take it over since Pandora cleared it out all that time ago. Cam had stopped by the canyon’s waters as if he was waiting for someone to come collect him but no one would. The group was up at a sniping point that overlooked the cove so there was little to no way the ex-courier would be able to spot them. Pandora’s eyes narrowed at the man, her scope firmly on him as her finger itched to pull the trigger. “Will you be able to do this, Dora?” Veronica questioned softly only to receive a sharp nod before the sound of the coil gun firing ripped through the air before she could ask if the job was done several more rounds sounded out before the courier sat up and holstered the gun, a blank look on her face. “Dora what-” She was cut off. _There’s nothing left of him now._ Was all the courier said as she proceeded to stand up and walk away from the spot. 

Pandora was walking for at least 10 minutes when she noticed the red in the distance shouting praises of a man who had been dead for ages - Legionaries. An irritated look crossed her face but she kept walking, they weren’t assassins and Boone would just take them out on his way to catch up with her. She had just killed the last member of her family and she felt numb but she knew that it needed to happen, she needed to protect the man who meant more than any family ever did not that she’d tell him. She wasn’t that brave. A rock landing near her caused her to stop and turn, her gaze landing on a child wearing a bright red shirt. The sound of shouting alerted the child and made young boy run behind the courier, whimpering in fear as the Legionaries grew closer. “They took my big sissy!” The kid cried out only to start whimpering heavily once the pained cries of a woman sounded out. Pandora patted the boy’s dark blonde hair gently, a soft smile on her face before she ran over to the Legionaries.

“Huh? Hey, you’re that bitch that keeps killing our brothers!” One grunt shouted, causing the mute woman to roll her eyes and she calmly walked over to the sobbing half naked teen. She shrugged her dirty brown jacket off and covered the young girl with it. “Hey, we’re talking to you!” Another grunt called out. Their voices seemed to meld together in the courier’s mind as she began to lead the teen over to her young brother, her tired state only making her push away the Legionaries as they tried to grab the girls but the moment she felt a collar wrap around her neck, she snapped. The courier pushed the teen gently out of the way before taking out her trusty combat knife and gutting the man who just tried to collar her. She flicked the knife to the side to get rid of the excess blood that collected at the end, the sight of her being unfazed at her disembowelling a comrade caused the Legion soldiers to try and run. ‘Oh no, you don’t!’ Pandora thought to herself as she pulled out her rifle, easily taking one of the slow grunts out and exploding his body so viscera and blood flew everywhere, the small burst of force from the explosion caused his comrades to fall over which made it easier for the courier to catch up knife back in hand as she made her way over to the next grunt, a twisted snarl glued to her face as she plunged the knife in the Legionary’s back. Deeper and deeper and deeper. Faster and faster and faster. Making sure that the man couldn’t move an inch before moving on to the final Legionary, pouncing on his back as he tried to get up and giving him the same treatment as the previous soldier.

Boone and Veronica caught up to a heavy breathing, blood covered courier standing over the disembowelled Legionary, glaring down at the dead body. The scribe rushed over to the siblings that the courier had saved while Boone worked to calm down their friend. “You did good.” He stated, pulling the short woman close to him but as he wasn’t one for physical contact that’s what he left it at. The tight feeling around his waist, indicating that the woman was hugging him, caused a small crimson tint to coat his cheeks. The sniper cleared his throat, patting the courier’s back slightly before moving away coughing to himself awkwardly. The group were quick to head back to Novac to inform Manny about what had happened as well as getting the siblings a place to live and the courier a new set of clothes while her stealth suit was being cleaned.

“You alright now, Dora?” Veronica asked, helping the woman get into the power armour that the courier had left in her room in the small complex. _I could be better but at least Arcade is safe._ The courier signed, huffing silently to herself as she tried to adjust to the heavy metal suit, hating the feeling of being weighed down. _Ugh, I understand that these are meant to be sturdy but how does anyone so much as run in these?_ Veronica shrugged in response and replied that she was glad that she was just a scribe before making another witty remark that got the courier to giggle in her own little way. “Okay, let me just make sure Boone is all settled before we head back to Freeside!” The scribe’s voice chirped out as she made her way out of the room. The courier looked down at her heavily armoured before looking at the helmet that sat on the other side of the room. ‘Okay Pan, you had training. You can do this. It just required a little practice.’ A small step was soon followed by a large thud causing her faithful companions to rush into the room to see their fearless leader on the floor face first. ‘Okay, a lot of practice.’ The courier’s thoughts groaned.


End file.
